Promoting responsible play

With great games, comes great responsibility

At Camelot, our strategy is to encourage lots of people to play National Lottery games but to individually spend relatively small amounts. So even though we’re the sixth largest lottery in the world in terms of sales, we’re still ranked just 62nd (out of 180 lotteries) for spend per person – according to La Fleur’s 2017 World Lottery Almanac.

How we protect players

We’re confident that our products have a very low risk of causing harm to players, but we aim to minimise this risk as much as possible.

How we do it: Game design

When it comes to game design, we believe prevention is better than cure.

Step 1: We use GAM-GaRD and ASTERiG to test how risky certain characteristics of a game could be for players, such as the return to player, jackpot size and sensory features.

Step 2: We use Game Design Protocol to predict how new or different draw-based lottery games or scratchcards will be used by people in particular risk groups.

Step 3: We commission expert research to give us insight into the potential impact of new games on players

Step 4: We analyse the results of these tools to see if a game poses a risk that’s above average. If it does, we’ll take another look at the product or review other factors, such as our marketing strategy. But if we’re still not convinced, we won’t launch the game.

How we do it: Play

1: All National Lottery products display the GamCare logo and HelpLine number.

How we look out for winners

Winning a lot of money can be life-changing. That’s why we’re here to help.

We can arrange a press conference if a player would like to talk about their win. If they’ve decided to stay anonymous, we don’t say a word – unless a winner signs an agreement with us that they want publicity, we won’t release any information into the public domain.

For prizes of £50,000 and up, winners can choose for our player services team to pay them in the comfort of their own home, or choose to drop in at one of our prize payout centres.

For prizes of £500,000 and up, we make sure a private banking representative is on hand to help winners make the most of their new-found wealth. We can also arrange for a panel of independent financial advisers to provide impartial and practical advice.

We're accredited

GamCare

We were one of the first organisations in the UK to achieve GamCare accreditation for our interactive services, including our mobile website and The National Lottery iOS app.

Gambling Commision

We work in consultation with the Gambling Commission when developing new online player protection measures.

Experian

An Interactive Age Checked accreditation (iAC) by Experian ensures that no one aged under 16 is able to register for a National Lottery account, or even to try playing a game.